Highlights

This article first appeared on my new Land Rover Log, but I thought I would run it here just for your consideration. I didn’t just dream up this current Land Rover desire out of nowhere. Nope, back in the mid-80s when I was in college, I bought my first car – an MGB. I loved that car and drove it everywhere … until I drove it into the back of a stopped car as I was coming around a curve on Lockwood Boulevard here in Charleston. I won’t say the folks in the stopped car were doing anything wrong or wanting to get hit, but I will say that at least one of them got out of the car already wearing a neck brace.

Burlen Ltd, the world’s only manufacturer of genuine SU (Skinner’s Union), AMAL and Zenith carburetors, is gearing up for an exciting 2017, with an innovative and truly ground-breaking product set to roll out of the workshop. This game-changing launch from Burlen will be an all-new and complete fuelling system that includes a fuel injection device working inside an SU carburetor, and it’s set to completely shake up the market when it’s released in the summer.

Our video this week is a kind of birthday card love letter from Land Rover. I have to admit that I am a sap for these kinds of videos, and yes, I have been known to cry during Hallmark commercials. Seems this video, though nothing to do with Christmas, is perfect for this holiday week and remembering our families and the good times. The Land Rover Experience centre in Solihull recently welcomed a very special guest. Geoff, a lifelong Land Rover fan, celebrated his 80th birthday with a special surprise organized by Land Rover and his daughter. Getting behind the wheel of our latest vehicles, Geoff got some tips on off-roading from Phil Jones, our Land Rover Experience instructor. The surprises didn’t stop there as Mike Bishop, Product Manager of Land Rover Reborn, brought along a very special vehicle. Watch […]

Engineers from SAIC Motor Technical Centre, the company behind MG Motor, co-hosted a global gathering of top automotive aerodynamicists in Leamington Spa, UK, in November. Recognizing the key role vehicle design plays in fuel economy, the EADE (European Aerodynamic Data Exchange) annual meeting welcomed 44 delegates from over 20 global vehicle manufacturers and two wind tunnel facilities. Held at the Engineering Employers’ Federation (EEF) conference center in Warwickshire, the annual event gives engineers involved in reducing the drag coefficient of cars the opportunity to share new developments and data relating to wind tunnel testing. These tests are used to understand how well a car travels through the air, producing a set of figures to describe a vehicle’s relative aerodynamic performance.

A truly incredible collection of Formula 1 heritage is set to go on display for the first time at Autosport International in January. Classic Team Lotus have confirmed all seven remaining Lotus type 49 racing cars will be present at Europe’s foremost motorsport show between 12-15* January. The late Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe designed the Lotus 49 with a Ford Cosworth DFV (Double Four Valve) engine at its heart. The show at the NEC in January 2017 marks 50 years since this pioneering F1 car first raced – and won – with the legendary Jim Clark behind the wheel at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort.

Jaguar Land Rover is today opening its doors to female students to give them a deep insight into engineering and manufacturing careers. The students aged 15-18 have all applied for Jaguar Land Rover’s Advanced and Degree Apprenticeship programmes and secured their places on the course after passing initial HR screening and psychometric tests. During the four-day ‘Young Women in the Know’ programme, the students will tour design and manufacturing facilities, network with female employees, spend a day on work placement with a female mentor and brush up their workability skills including CV writing and interview practice. The scheme is running at five Jaguar Land Rover Education Business Partnership Centres in the Midlands and Merseyside.

Next summer’s Silverstone Classic will feature more than eight decades of glittering motorsport history, with confirmation that the acclaimed Kidston Trophy for Pre-War Sports Cars is returning to the packed on-track program in 2017.

This just in from TVR Heritage … “Do you own a TVR? Is it a clean and generally unmodified example as the factory would have supplied? If the answer is yes then we would welcome you to make contact as we will be arranging a professional photoshoot to bolster the TVR graphic archives for some exciting future projects and your car could be the star! “Multiple photos will be taken of each vehicle involved, together with the recording of additional details, including possibly some video and this material will form a key part of a future presentation.

MG Motor UK’s family-friendly SUV, the MG GS, has been announced as the company’s fastest-ever selling vehicle. Launched at The London Motor Show in May 2016, the model has already surpassed 500 unit sales in just 176 days. Reaching the milestone faster than any other of the manufacturer’s vehicles, even its stylish supermini, the MG3; success of the MG GS demonstrates market demand for a fun, family-friendly SUV – available at a sensible price.

McLaren Automotive has today celebrated the manufacture of its 10,000th car from the McLaren Production Centre in Woking, England. The 10,000th car, a McLaren 570S finished in Ceramic Grey paintwork from the McLaren Special Operations ‘Defined’ palette, rolled out of the Production Centre just over five years after the first car, a McLaren 12C, was completed.

Phase I of Aston Martin’s new manufacturing facility at St Athan in Wales received the green light when Aston Martin President and CEO Dr Andy Palmer met Welsh First Minister, Rt Hon Carwyn Jones AM to finalize the sale of the St Athan site to the British luxury carmaker. In February 2016, Aston Martin announced that it had chosen St Athan from 20 potential global locations as its second manufacturing facility as part of a £200M investment in new products and facilities. A recruitment drive this summer began the search for up to 750 new Aston Martin employees who will work at the new facility, a number of whom have already begun their training, building the new DB11 at its Gaydon Headquarters.

Our Video of the Week this week comes by way of Rolls-Royce. The House of Rolls-Royce premieres the first in a series of fascinating short films today, telling how it became the world’s leading and most respected luxury house. Kate Winslet, the Academy Award winning actress, will give voice to the Spirit of Ecstasy in this first film for the House of Rolls-Royce as she retells luxury’s most fascinating and enduring story. The British actress will recount the story of the muse that guides the world’s most celebrated luxury house.

The Jaguar Classic Challenge returns in 2017 with two brand new events confirmed in the five-race series for pre-1966 Jaguars. A new date for the Jaguar Classic Challenge calendar is the Silverstone Classic on 28-30 July. This special summer weekend will be the third round in the Challenge and is expected to draw a full grid of stunning classic Jaguar racing cars.

Welcome to tthe Just British December contest. (Please insert trumpet fanfare as desired.) The way to enter the contest is simple and free – go to our new Discussion Forums, register, and then leave a comment. Yup, that’s it. You can post to an existing thread, such as the one about the contest, or start a new one of your own. It would be great fun if you would post an introduction to yourself and your car(s), but that is not necessary.  Just register and leave a comment of some sort. But please, no spam. If you spam the forums your comment will be deleted and you will be banned. (Hate to have to say that, but it has already happened.) Commenting here doesn’t count! Has to be on the forums. The prize for this contest will be the great DVD set […]

One of Aston Martin’s most iconic models – the  DB4 G.T. – is to be celebrated with a special series of 25 track-only continuation cars built to lightweight specification by Aston Martin Works at Newport Pagnell. Launched in 1959, the DB4 G.T. was immediately celebrated as one of the rarest and most revered of all Aston Martins. Evolved from the production DB4 and introduced in the same year Aston Martin scored its historic outright win in the Le Mans 24 Hours, the DB4 G.T. was a true supercar of its day. Shorter, lighter, sleeker and with a more powerful version of the legendary 3.7-litre straight-six engine, not only was the DB4 G.T. Britain’s fastest passenger sports car, it was a born winner, scoring a debut race victory at Silverstone in the hands of Sir Stirling Moss. A total of 75 […]

The Aston Martin Vantage GT8 will make its debut at the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour race in February 2017 with R-Motorsport, competing in the invitational class for production cars. Aston Martin works driver, Darren Turner (GB), will lead the charge and will be joined by one of the R-Motorsport team owners, Florian Kamelger (I), and Markus Lungstrass (DE). Held annually at Mount Panorama in New South Wales, Australia, the Bathurst 12 Hour is technically a street circuit that presents a multitude of challenges, not least the tight and narrow section that runs across the top of the mountain. In stature, it is as notorious as the Nürburgring 24 Hours and the Spa 24 Hours.

Factory Driver Alvaro Parente secured P2 on the grid for customer team K-PAX Racing ahead of this weekend’s Motul Sepang 12 Hours, continuing his strong season with the US-based team. After progressing through the qualifying sessions to the Top 15 shootout, the Portuguese driver set a blistering laptime of 2m 02.764s driving its #9 McLaren 650S GT3 – just 0.130s off pole. Parente’s best lap in the session driving the 650S GT3 – which he has claimed six race wins this season, helping secure three 2016 Pirelli World Challenge titles – came following a strong run of form in the three practice sessions ahead of Qualifying at the event. The Portuguese driver was consistently among the fastest on track, ending two of the three free practice sessions at the top of the timesheets. During the final top 15 shootout, he […]

The UK’s leading manufacturer of premium luxury vehicles has announced further global sales growth for November 2016, following a successful month in China and last week’s announcement that its Chinese plant is increasing capacity by over 50%. November % increase(decrease) YOY Jan – November % increase YOY 15/16 Financial Year % increase YOY Jaguar Land Rover 47,588 2 527,937 21 521,571 13 Jaguar 14,613 83 132,381 75 94,449 23 Land Rover 32,975 (14) 395,556 9 427,122 11 Jaguar Land Rover today reported its best ever November retail sales of 47,588 vehicles, up 2% compared to November 2015. The year-on-year growth in retail volumes was driven by strong sales of the new Jaguar XF (with the addition of the long wheel base XFL in China) and F-PACE as well as continuing solid sales of the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range […]